{"id":218711,"date":"2026-03-24T21:59:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T21:59:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/218711\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T21:59:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T21:59:09","slug":"how-were-the-new-fwisd-superintendent-board-chosen-by-tea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/218711\/","title":{"rendered":"How were the new FWISD superintendent, board chosen by TEA?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath shared details on Tuesday about the qualities he sought in new state-appointed leaders in the Fort Worth Independent School District, who were announced earlier in the day<\/a>.<\/p>\n

New Fort Worth ISD Superintendent Peter Licata<\/a> and a nine-person Board of Managers consisting of attorneys, educators and business leaders formally began their roles on Tuesday, starting the clock on a state takeover that could last at least two years. Morath answered questions from the media over Zoom, sharing background on how the appointments were decided.<\/p>\n

Morath acknowledged former Superintendent Karen Molinar\u2019s leadership and gave her praise for the foundation she set for Fort Worth ISD as it starts its next phase of governance. He noted that the superintendent search was conducted nationwide to find the best talent pool possible and called Licata\u2019s track record \u201cquite stellar.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBringing in an outside party, a fresh set of eyes can significantly benefit when trying to reassess from top to bottom the things that are going on,\u201d Morath said, citing business processes, funding allocation and classroom instruction as examples.<\/p>\n

Morath highlighted Licata\u2019s \u201cvaried school context\u201d that is applicable to Fort Worth ISD\u2019s large range of neighborhoods and high number of campuses. Licata most recently served as superintendent of Broward County Public Schools in Florida. His education background<\/a> includes working as a teacher, coach, principal, regional superintendent, assistant superintendent and university professor.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe led at the most senior level for a relatively brief period of time in Broward, yet got it back up to an A (rating). First time that\u2019s happened in that school district in over a decade. And our goal is to see similar levels of academic gains and performance gains in Fort Worth,\u201d Morath said.<\/p>\n

In terms of the Board of Managers<\/a>, Morath said he used his prior experience as a Dallas ISD school board member as a lens for selecting board members. Effective board members should believe all children can learn and achieve when given proper support while also being \u201cservant leaders\u201d with a mentality to serve the school system and families, he said.<\/p>\n

\"State Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath talks to the press following a tour of William James Middle School on Aug. 28, 2025, in Fort Worth. Amanda McCoy amccoy@star-telegram.com <\/p>\n

Familiarity with business processes was also a focus when choosing members of the Board of Managers, as the district has an almost $1 billion budget<\/a>. Morath looked for diversity in terms of people who have held leadership positions in small and large institutions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe looked for a broad array of individuals who represent Fort Worth in a variety of different contexts, from a variety of different backgrounds, but who can come together around this united vision,\u201d Morath said.<\/p>\n

The Board of Managers and new superintendent replace the Fort Worth ISD\u2019s elected school board and former superintendent Molinar as the state intervenes to turn around the district\u2019s struggling academic performance. In accordance with state law, the district received notice almost a year ago of potential state intervention after a now-closed campus had five failed accountability ratings from the state in a row.<\/p>\n

After months of due process, in addition to appeals sought by Fort Worth ISD officials, the district was unsuccessful in stopping the state takeover from happening.<\/p>\n

The takeover will continue until the district meets criteria set by the Texas Education Agency, which include exceeding the state and\/or regional average for meeting-grade-level proficiency in reading and math, and ensuring the district has no schools unacceptable ratings for multiple years.<\/p>\n

Related Stories from Fort Worth Star-Telegram<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Lina Ruiz<\/a><\/p>\n

Fort Worth Star-Telegram<\/p>\n

Lina Ruiz covers early childhood education in Tarrant County and North Texas for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. A University of Florida graduate, she previously wrote about local government in South Florida for TCPalm and Treasure Coast Newspapers.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath shared details on Tuesday about the qualities he sought in new state-appointed leaders…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":207625,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[116,118,8257,117,15982,7395,85356,16529],"class_list":["post-218711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-worth","tag-fort-worth","tag-fort-worth-headlines","tag-fort-worth-isd","tag-fort-worth-news","tag-fort-worth-schools","tag-mike-morath","tag-peter-licata","tag-state-takeover"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218711\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}